Dear Mr Chan

I refer to your request of 18 July 2020 to the Department of Health (the
department) seeking access under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth)
(FOI Act) to the following documents:

            “the latest Australian Statistics on Medicines 2019 report.”

The most recent version of the Australian Statistics on Medicines report
is from 2015. A copy of the report is available on the Pharmaceutical
Benefits Scheme (PBS) website at:
[1]https://www.pbs.gov.au/info/statistics/a....

There are alternative publicly available sources for PBS data, including:

·       Services Australia (Medicare), which has one based on Date of
Processing (DoP) and is available at:
[2]http://medicarestatistics.humanservices.....

·       The Department of Health, which has one based on Date of Supply
(DoS) and is available at:
[3]https://www.pbs.gov.au/info/statistics/d... (you can
make use of the Item Code to Drug Mapping File on this page to find the
relevant PBS item codes).

·       PBS utilisation reports, which are available on the PBS website
at:
[4]https://www.pbs.gov.au/info/statistics/e....

If data is required at a more detailed level than in the public sources
(e.g. patient level data) then this would need to be requested. Some
options include:

·       Contacting the Department of Health’s Data Assessment Request
Panel at: [5][email address]; or

·       Making a request to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
(AIHW) at: [6]https://www.aihw.gov.au/our-services/dat....

On this basis, please advise the department if you agree to withdraw your
request by COB 3 August 2020. If we do not hear from you by this date, we
will consider your request as withdrawn.

Kind regards

FOI Unit – FOI and Legislation Support Section

[7]cid:image003.png@01D51610.1D98D220

Legal & Assurance Division |  Corporate Operations Group

Legal Advice & Legislation Branch

Australian Government Department of Health

T: 02 6289 1666 | E: [8][email address] 

GPO Box 9848, Canberra ACT 2601, Australia

The Department of Health acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of
Australia and their continued connection to land, sea and community. We
pay our respects to all Elders past and present. 

If you receive this email in error, please delete it and contact the
sender immediately.

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